Fire control system



April 12?, i943? G. M. TAYLOR ET AL 317,419

FIRE CONTROL SYSTEM Pll 27, 1943- G. M. TAYLOR ET A1. o 2,317,419

RIRE CONTROL YSTEM VFiled Jan. 4, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Apr. 27, 1943 UNITED sr'rrs ATENT 4"OlfC l Y FIRE kcolv'rlao.. SYSTEMe Galen M. Taylor, Cooper, Tex., LewlsR. Bradshaw, Herndon, Va., and Samuel G. Green,

Gray, Ga.

Application January 4, 1940, Serial No. 312,381

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as

amended April 30,'1928; k370 0. G'. 757) 4 Claims.

The invention described herein may be manu,- factured, and used by or for the Government' for governmental purposes, without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to `a ilre control system to be employed in directing gun fire on fast moving aerial or similar targets and is intended for operation in accordance with the system of observation Yas disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 2,186,007 issued to Frederick R. Chamberlain, Jr., on January 9, 1940.

It is an object of the present invention to pro- V vide an electrical data transmission system adapted for use with the control box disclosed in our U. S. application No. 312,380 filed on even date herewith.

Itis a further object of the invention to providev a simple relative inexpensive electrical data transmission system that is capable of permitting the use of transmission lines of relative short or long lengths as desired, without necessitating the use of complex or expensive means for compensating for the variable resistances introduced in the system by the use of such lines.

A further object of the `invention is to provide an electrical data transmission system having asmall power requirement.

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The specific nature of the invention as Well as other objects and advantages thereof will clearly appear from a descriptionof a preferred embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawings in Referring now to the drawings by characters Y of reference and more particularly to Fig. 2; an electrical data transmission circuit comprising a Wheatstone bridge generally indicated at I0 for transmitting horizontal deflections and another Wheatstone bridgeY generally indicated at Il for transmitting vertical deflections is shown. Thebridges I0 and Hare connected in parallel with a common power supply I2 through the two pole single throw switch I3, and conductors I4, I5, I6

and l1. Forv a purpose subsequently herein made clear the conductor I6 has a variable resistance I8 in its horizontal deflection bridge branch and a fixed resistor I9 in its vertical deflection bridge branch. In order to-test the condition of the battery or other source o f power I2, andbridge circuits when energized, a single milliammeter 20 and circuit 2| therefor are arranged to be thrown in series or parallel `with the source of power'IZ by means of the series-parallel switch 22. A multiplying resistor 23V is insertedin the circuit of source of supply I2 to render it possible to use meter 20 as a voltmeter in testing the condition of the battery or other source yof supply I2. n A

The horizontal -defiection bridge I0 is provided in each ofits arms 24l and 25 with a principal horizontal deflection potentiometer transmitter 26 arranged with the sliding contacts 21 thereof on a common shaft 28 in such manner'that the resistance or potential fall across one of the potentiometers will increase while the resistance or potential fall across the other potentiometer will correspondingly decrease upon rotation of the shaft 28 about its axis in either clockwise or counterclockwisre direction. An `additional potentiometer transmitter indicated at 29 for transmittingv horizontal spot corrections and having a sliding contact 30 is adapted to be inserted in the' circuit of bridge I0 with its resistor unit in series with the arms 24, 25 of the bridge and its sliding contact 30 conductively connected with the milliammeter 3|. The arms 32, 33 of the bridge have resistances therein of proper ratio with respect to, thev resistances of the potentiometer transmitters in the arms 24, 25 and are also .connected in series with the resistor unit of a potentiometer receiver 34 having a sliding contact 35 connected with the milliammeter 3I.

The vertical deflection bridge II is similar to the horizontal deflection bridge I0, such changes as are necessary in the value of the resistances to properly transmit the principal vertical and vertical spot corrections will be made as is obvious to those skilled in the art.. Elements in the bridgey II corresponding to similar elements in the bridge I0 have been identified by the same character primedf' and thereforathe description of the elements of the horizontal deflection bridge I0 will sufce also as a description of the corre,-v

sponding elementsin vertical deflection bridge II. In the case of the vertical deflection bridge Il, however, provision is` made to alternatively throw either oneof two vertical spot potenti-.

ometer transmitters 29. in .series with the bridge arms 24', 25 by means of a three'pole double throw selector switch 36.

For convenience in organization a junction box 31 (Fig. 1) serves to house a terminal block on which all electrical interconnections are made between the various potentiometer transmitters,

and potentiometer receivers as wellas the milliammeters 3|, 3| in accordance with Fig. 2; The junction box is formed to also function as a packing and transportation chest for the source of supply '|2, potentiometer transmitters and y milliammeters` 3|, 3|" for which purpose it may' through detachable electric connectors .adapted to be connected with corresponding connectors carried by meter blocks supported in insulated relation on the top wall of the control box.

All. potentiometer transmitters are housed. lnv

insulated casings and are adapted to be plugged into receptacles located in the junction box 31 be fabricated of any desirable configuration and material, but is preferably 'formed of .steel to provide 'a chest of generally rectangular shape in crossv section and having a storage compart-- ment 40 suitablysub-divided to receive and house' the potentiometers 26, 26'., 29,29 and meters 3|, 3|. AThe niilliamm'eter 20 and switches |73, 22 vand `36v are carried 'by aV removable switch panel normally positioned in the junction box abovethe battery or -other'fsource'of supply I2.

i In Vthe fire control'systern shown in Fig. 1 a.v control boxv 4| housing Aa horizontal deflection transmitter 42 and'rvertioal deflection transmitter 43 forj manually transmitting these deflections to the lateral and vertical vvelements of ther training mechanism of one or more guns G (only oneV gun being shown) lthrough flexible cable assemblies 44 is provided. The control box alsohouses the potentiometer receivers 34, 34' and is formed to 'detachably vmount the milliammeters 3|,1 3|' in anydesirable or conventional manner.

As more particularly shown in Fig. 3 the control box 4| is of the same general construction as the control box of our co-pendingapplicaton No'. 312,380 filed on even date herewith in so far as the mechanism for transmitting the deilechaving one or more gearsv 4.6 ilxed thereon and.A

meshing respectively with corresponding gears 41 ofvr predetermined ratio therewithlilxed to cutput shafts 48 for vdriving the rotatable shafts.

in the flexible cable assemblies 44 attached to the `horizontal deflection elements of the training mechanisms of the guns for displacing the same in accordance with the horizontal or lateral deflections transmitted.` Shaft is rotatable by means c-f the dual handwheels 49, 49' which" are operatively'connected in` any suitable manner,

as by the means shown in our co-pending application above referred, to the shaft 45. To apprise nan operator of the magnitude of the horizontal deflection transmitted by the shaft 45 an indicator having a movable index bearing member 61 connected by a suitable gear train to shaft 45 and movable with respect to: a stationary scale bearing member 50 formed withan appro-v priate scale thereon is provided. Potentiometer receiver 34 is housed in a housing of insulating material, such as Bakelite and has its sliding contact 35 connected to a gear train housed in thev gear housing 5| and driven by the gearing A52 and shaft 53 through shaft 45. l

The vertical deflection transmitter 43 is substantially identical with the horizontal deflection transmitter 42, corresponding elements being identified by corresponding reference characters primed' rshed electrically by the system through adapters carried by cables ofthe proper number of conductors and any desirable length. In the case of the principal lateral and vertical deflection potentiometer transmitters 26-28 and 26h-.26'. respectively four conductor,v cables 54 are used to connect the transmitters to the junction box receptacles, while in the case of thelateral and vertical spot potentiometer transmitters 2! endg-29' three conductor cablesy 55 are usedto `connect the vtransmitters to `the junction box'receptacles. A six conductor cable 56 connects the meters 3|, 3|' and vpotentiometer receivers 34, 34' in the control `box to the junction box receptacle whichin turn connects these elements intoA the bridge circuits shown in Fig. 2.

All potentiometers may lhave dials .attached to.

the shaft carrying the sliding contact thereof graduated in properfunits rfor the purpose of apprising the operator ofthe magnitude of any deflections transmitted and. such dial mayfbe slipped with respectto the shaft of zeroizing the potentiometer.

In operation the milliamxneters 3|, 3|'y having been zeroized are inserted in the meter blocks on the controlbox 4| and all potentiometer trans- 1 mitters arel zeroized and arranged with their dials set at zero deflection. Likewise the handwheels 49, 49' are rotated until the indices on members `il'I, 61 indicate zero deectionon the scales of members 50, 50 which in the illustration made in Fig. 3 is 300 on scale SII'.`A The ypotentiometer.transmitters 2 6-26, 28h-26',` 29, 29' and their rcables of .any required length are. next plugged into the proper receptacles of .theY

junction box 31. TheA device is nowlreadyfor ltesting and is connected to constitute the circuits shown in Fig. 2. Main switch I3 is closed-energizing the bridge ycircuits i0 and ||1v and the series parallel switch 22 is arranged to put theV meterA 20 in parallel with the source of supply l2 to test the battery or other source of supply.

lIf the source of supply l2 is found to be in con-` 22 is next ar'' dition the rseries-parallel switch ranged in series with the sourceV of supply'to determine the condition of the bridge circuits. It it isfound that the `circuits have current flowing therein it is evident that the bridges are unbal`Y anced, vperhaps due to the particular lengthof cables being used in YtheY particular setup. The bridges I0 and are balanced out by the variable resistancela if necessary. TheY data transmission system is now ready forthe transmission of data. The operator oi' the principal horizontal or lateral deflection potentiometers 26-26 will turn the common shaftl 28 by means of knob Meters 3|, 3| are supported detach'ablyy 75 88 so that the indicating dialthereon will indicate the principal lateraldeflection which comes from any appropriate source, such as a lead computer. kTurningthe shaft 28 clockwise or counterclockwise will move the sliding contacts 21 in the same direction, the resistances being Vso arfY ranged that when one is increased in magnitude theV other is decreased,` and vice versa and ydisturb the balance of the bridge I0. When the balance'of bridge l0 is upset current will now between the branches of the bridge through milliammeter 3| defiecting the needle thereof'. The horizontal or lateral deflection operator ori confor the purpose f trol box 4| will note the deflection of the needle of meter 3| and restore the same to zero by rotating the handwheel 49, shaft 45, gearing 52', shaft 53, and the sliding contact 35 of horizontal or lateral potentiometer receiver 34 until the balance of the bridge l0 is restored as indicated by the meter 3|. Rotation of shaft 45 in maintaining the needle of meter 3| at zero will rotate the gears 45, 41 and shaft 48 to in turn rotate the cable in the one or more horizontal or lateral deflection cables 44 which will correspondingly displace the training mechanism of the gun or guns in horizontal or lateral deilection.

The same mode of operation appertains to operation of the vertical deection mechanism 43 as outlined above in regard to the horizontal deection mechanism 42. As it is found advantageous to have two iiank observers for observing verticaldeviations two vertical spotting potentiometer transmitters 2S are provided and either may be put into the circuit of bridge Il by the selector switch 36 at the will of the operator at the junction box 31.

If desired the bridges may be employed with the principal deection transmitters 25-26 26'25' alone omitting the spotting transmitters from the bridge circuits by simply removing the adapters on cables 55 from their receptacles in junction box 31.

Having now described what we at present regard a preferred embodiment of the present invention we claim and desire to secure by U. S. Letters Patent:

1. A fire control system comprising in combination, a control box, a gear train mounted in the control box movable proportionally to data to be set upon the training mechanism of a gun, a exible transmission cable assembly connected with said gear train adapted to transmit motion from the latter to said training mechanism, a

data transmitter comprising a variable resistance,

a receiver comprising a variable resistance mounted in the control box, means connecting the variable element of the resistance of said receiver to the gear train for movement thereby, means interconnecting the transmitter and receiver into a Wheatstone bridge circuit, and a milliammeter connected across the arms of the bridge and de-l tachably mounted on the control box; whereby data may be transmitted electrically from a station remote from the control box thereto by unbalancing the bridge and mechanically from the control box to the training mechanism by balancing the bridge.

2. A fire control system comprising in combi nation, a control box, a gear train mounted in the control box movable proportionally to data to be setupon the training mechanism V-of a gun, a flexible transmission cable assembly connected with said gear train adapted to transmit motion from the latter to said training mechanism, a data transmitter comprising a pair of variable resistances synchronously variable to increase the `resistance of one and decrease the resistance of the other or vice versa, a receiver comprising a variable resistance mounted in the control box, means connecting the variable element of the resistance of said receiver to the gear train for movement thereby, .a junction box, conductors detachably interconnecting said transmitter and receiver through the junction box into a Wheatstone bridge circuit with a variable resistance of the transmitter in each arm thereof and a milliammeter connected across the arms of the bridge detachably mounted on the control box; whereby data may be transmitted electrically from a station remote from the control box thereto by unbalancing the bridge, and mechanically from the control box tothe training mechanism by balancing the bridge.

3. The structure of claim 2 wherein a second transmitter is detachably connected in said bridge circuit through the Junction box adapted to transmit spotting corrections.

4. The structure of claim 2 wherein two additional transmitters are detachably interconnected with the junction box and means are provided for selectively interconnecting either one oi' said additional transmitters in the bridge circuit for transmitting spotting corrections.

GALEN M. TAYLOR. SAMUEL G. GREEN. LEWIS R. BRADSHAW. 

